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How do you expect to get down to 4ms of latency with no clicks, pops, or glitches? Some interfaces have latency-free direct monitoring but otherwise I don't believe this is something even most of the cheaper USB 2.0 interfaces can accomplish successfully.

I use my VST strictly as a sound module. I was considering many different interfaces. In the end a friend suggested the NI Traktor Audio 2. It's promoted for DJ's but from what I read the circuitry was comparable. It's worked out great. My latency is at 6.1ms and the interface is easy to store with my cables. At $99, I decided to try it. Obviously, people using DAWs will want something with more input/outputs.

Well, I literally just yesterday "discovered" that Vintage D works just fine with Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 USB when latency is set at 5ms and I find it enough. I think I even could get it down to 4 or 3 if really wanted to.(using OK, but not "high end" laptop by todays standarts)

Currently, I have an old desktop computer with Athlon 64 (old single core chip), 1 gb of ram, a slow 5400 rpm drive, and an Soundblaster Audigy Soundcard, which I use the asio drivers it came with.

I have the Pianoteq demo and I have my asio latency set to 5 ms. All I am doing is playing the piano through Pianoteq, and with 5ms latency I can still hear the delay, especially when I do slip notes or fast notes.

Now you guys are telling me a laptop even a couple years old, with a brand new audio interface can't even compete with my ancient computer?

Besides that, how to heck do you guys even play piano when you can hear delays?

dmd: Your i7 at 3.4 GHz blows the doors off my Core Duo at 1.7 GHz. That explains why you get such low latency.

Gatsbee13: "Can one tell the difference between 5 and say 6.4 ms?"You can't.

Fscotte: "I have an old ... Athlon 64 single core ... I have the Pianoteq demo and I have my ASIO latency set to 5 ms.If you can hear the delay, then that 5 msec setting is not correct. I don't question your setting. Rather, I'm questioning the software. It may say 5 msec ... but if you can sense the delay, it must be a good deal more than 5 msec.

Gatsbee13: "I'm currently at 2.9 ms ... I can definitely hear the difference between 2.9 ms and 5."You might be able to hear a difference when changing between those settings. But that only indicates that the settings are inaccurate. You can't differentiate 2.9 msec from 5 msec. Even when listening to a no latency sound mixed with one delayed 10 msec, you can barely hear the a 10 msec difference.

You can experience that by listening to the piano's native sound (at 0 msec latency), mixed with the computer's slightly-delayed sound. If you get a very mild chorus effect, your latency is VERY low. If it's a strong chorus effect, that's good enough for playing (once you shut off the piano's native sound). If there's a noticeable double-strike ... first the piano then the computer ... your latency is up in the tens of msec range.

As gvfarns pointed out above: "The latency reported by a software piano does not typically include all the possible sources of latency, and therefore underreports the true latency." Remember that the audio interface/sound card has an input latency and an output latency. They are additive. And there are other sources. The total is what counts.

For reference ... my Presonus ASIO control panel is set to 3 msec input latency and 18 msec output latency ... total 21 msec. I get a mild chorus effect when running the test, described above. But with the native sounds turned off the latency is not noticeable, from fingers to ears.

At the next higher ASIO setting (6 + 30 = 36 msec total), the delay is enough to disturb my playing a bit. And anything higher still is unusable.

But note ... these are just the figures claimed by the software. The true figures are probably different, likely higher.

Currently, I have an old desktop computer with Athlon 64 (old single core chip), 1 gb of ram, a slow 5400 rpm drive, and an Soundblaster Audigy Soundcard, which I use the asio drivers it came with.

I have the Pianoteq demo and I have my asio latency set to 5 ms. All I am doing is playing the piano through Pianoteq, and with 5ms latency I can still hear the delay, especially when I do slip notes or fast notes.

Now you guys are telling me a laptop even a couple years old, with a brand new audio interface can't even compete with my ancient computer?

Besides that, how to heck do you guys even play piano when you can hear delays?

5ms is half a hundredth of a second. The majority of human beings are not able to perceive such low latency. Maybe you have a very sharp perception, but probably what happens here is that the total latency is greater than 5ms.

You are probably looking at the "audio buffer size". That is just a part of the story. This number is reported because is easy to calculate but there are other latencies hidden in the system and are not so easily calculable. If you want to get a more reliable measure of latency use a software like this one (it's free):

Yo will have to make a loop between your input and output and it will give you the input + output latency, not only the output latency (that is what you really want), but I'd bet that you will see quite higher numbers than 5ms.

By the way, if you use headphones is not required, but when using speakers also take into account the distance the sound has to travel before reaching your ears. Roughly calculated, at the speed of sound each foot takes 1 milisecond.

I noticed with certain setups that if I set the latency too low(~5ms) the response got 'lumpy' and relaxing the latency caused the response to tighten up.This was when using massive gigabit libraries.

From the little I know about it, I think you achieve low latency by reducing the size of the buffer, from which the software accesses tones very fast. If you make that buffer too small the software has to access the disc more often to get data and that results in skips or actually may add to the latency. .... Something like that.

Currently, I have an old desktop computer with Athlon 64 (old single core chip), 1 gb of ram, a slow 5400 rpm drive, and an Soundblaster Audigy Soundcard, which I use the asio drivers it came with.

I have the Pianoteq demo and I have my asio latency set to 5 ms. All I am doing is playing the piano through Pianoteq, and with 5ms latency I can still hear the delay, especially when I do slip notes or fast notes.

Now you guys are telling me a laptop even a couple years old, with a brand new audio interface can't even compete with my ancient computer?

Besides that, how to heck do you guys even play piano when you can hear delays?

5ms is half a hundredth of a second. The majority of human beings are not able to perceive such low latency. Maybe you have a very sharp perception, but probably what happens here is that the total latency is greater than 5ms.

You are probably looking at the "audio buffer size". That is just a part of the story. This number is reported because is easy to calculate but there are other latencies hidden in the system and are not so easily calculable. If you want to get a more reliable measure of latency use a software like this one (it's free):

Yo will have to make a loop between your input and output and it will give you the input + output latency, not only the output latency (that is what you really want), but I'd bet that you will see quite higher numbers than 5ms.

By the way, if you use headphones is not required, but when using speakers also take into account the distance the sound has to travel before reaching your ears. Roughly calculated, at the speed of sound each foot takes 1 milisecond.

Regards, Kurt.-

Well this has to be it then. I've always just looked at the latency setting in the Creative Labs asio setting. There must be additional latency somewhere then. All I know is that if it's 5ms I can sense it in my playing, and even when I use to overdub guitar tracks. If it was at 4 or even less, it was perfect.

But how this all corresponds to the end recording? If I play VST "live" and record it as MIDI, if I don't hear latency in my headphones, it's safe to say that the end recording also will not have latency that's audible by listener, right?

But how this all corresponds to the end recording? If I play VST "live" and record it as MIDI, if I don't hear latency in my headphones, it's safe to say that the end recording also will not have latency that's audible by listener, right?

It would seem that latency is only detected when comparing the sound you are hearing to some other event that you associate with that sound (i.e. the press of the key). If the listener cannot see they keypress, he knows nothing of any latency.

On the other hand, if you were playing solo piano along with a background track, then the timing between the two might be noticeablly off as a result of latency.